Technology Literacy By: Mohammad Mousavi
Technology Literacy'' Essay No. 11 By: Mohammad Mousavi Date: 1392-02-06 Section heading The U.S. Department of Education (1996) defines technology literacy as "computer skills and the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance." It lists four goals related to technology literacy that ensure all students and teachers have equitable access to and effective use of technology: *1- "All teachers in the nation will have the training and support they need to help students learn using computers and the information superhighway." *2- "All teachers and students will have modern multimedia computers in their classrooms." *3- "Every classroom will be connected to the information superhighway." *4- "Effective software and on-line learning resources will be an integral part of every school's curriculum." For further information, refer to the following sources: *Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century: Meeting the Technology Literacy Challenge (U.S. Department of Education, 1996) *Expanding the Definition of Technological Literacy in Schools (Fanning, 1996) *Realizing the Promise of Technology in America's Schools (Kennedy, 1996) *Technological Literacy in President Clinton's Call to Action for American Education in the 21st Century (U.S. Department of Education, 1997) Section heading '''Technological literacy '''includes the' ability to understand & evaluate technology.' '''Understanding & evaluating technology '''can be taught with the '''ICE-9 curriculum.' | width="60"| |} | width="60"| |} | width="45"| |} Click on any of the nine lessons (or Introduction) above to see a summary of that lesson. For the full, detailed lessons, ready to use in a classroom (without cost), click on Download. Our curriculum on understanding and evaluating any technology is called "ICE-9" because it is organized around 9''' questions on technology's 'I'dentity, 'C'hange, and 'E'valuation. These are shown in the pyramid above, which includes the Introduction lesson (which is number 0 of 9). To learn more about the benefits of ICE-9, the pedagogy behind it, how ICE-9 connects to content standards, how students have reacted to it, how a parent views it, or how to download the curriculum, please click on the underlined links in this sentence or on the navigation bar at the top of this page. A good place to start is with the online summary of the Introduction lesson. Activities in each lesson were developed and tested in grades 5 to 8, but the concepts are appropriate for many ages. Teachers are free to develop new activities that illustrate the concepts taught in ICE-9. Teachers are encouraged to draw new hook stories from newspapers and magazines, keeping their lessons current and provocative. ICE-9 is a flexible framework for critical thinking with complete, but extensible, lesson plans. Teacher training is offered periodically at Foothill College's Krause Center for Innovation (search course offerings for "Critical Thinking about Technology"). As teachers develop new activities to illustrate the concepts in ICE-9, they are encouraged to share them, through KnowledgeContext's website, with other teachers wishing to address different grades or modes of learning. Our curriculum is now in a wiki, so our community can share new activities, hook stories, reflection questions, or even concepts. Visit the KnowledgeContext wiki at PBWiki and my email address for modifying the wiki ask us to be authorized to modify it. Share your ideas so everyone can benefit. Our download area includes an adaptation to '''college (courtesy of Paul Cotnoir of Becker College) and an adaptation focused on understanding and evaluating nanotechnology for high school students (courtesy of Miguel F. Aznar, our Executive Director, teaching at UC Santa Cruz.)